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Having been returned to her new crew by James, Alina, wasting no more time dwelling on the deal she'd just made with whom she once thought the devil, initiated her plan to escape from the Flying Dutchman. Will's father had to be somewhere, and if it weren't for all the barnacles she'd probably be able to find him. She settled for looking like a complete idiot and simply asking every passer-by if they were Bootstrap.

"Bootstrap?" A voice called to her right, "You know my name." His head pulled forward, as if materializing from the very wall of the cell.

"Yes, I do. I'm Jack Sparrow's – "

"Sparrow," he interrupted, "isn't he dead yet? You. I know you. You're the one who softened him. The reason he was mutinied. The reason I was thrown to the depths!" An arm materialized too, swinging about as if to strike her.

Alina grasped onto him, stilling his movement and slicing her palms on the rough coral protruding from his leathery skin. "No, Bootstrap! Jack is alive. He is aboard the Pearl headed for Shipwreck Cove with Barbossa. Including me, that makes three people who've all bested death once. Jack and I beat the Locker! And Will! Bootstrap, Will is doing everything he can to rescue you."

"Will? William!" The rest of his body came sliding from the wall, "He made it! He's alive, and now he sends you to tell me that he's coming to get me. Ha, ha! God's boons, he's on his way!"

Alina paused for a moment, her face flat, "Right. Well if he's going to rescue you, you have to rescue me, because he's going to need my help to do what needs done, savvy?"

"No?" Bootstrap looked at her carefully.

"What?"

"No. Not Jack's?" Referring to her stopping him earlier, "Then you're Elizabeth, which means Will can't help me. He won't come."

"Excuse me? I am not Elizabeth and I'll thank you not to refer to me as that malignant, shrill harpy again! I am Alina Carter, Captain Tobias Carter was my father, and I am currently Jack Sparrow's co-captain and possibly his significant other, although you never really can tell with him, can you? The point is William is coming for you because he loves you!"

"He loves Elizabeth."

"Probably to a lesser extent now." Alina mumbled.

"If Jones be slain, he who slays him must take his place. Captain forever. The Dutchman must always have a captain, and if he saves me, he loses you."

"Uh, no. Not me. Her. And he kind of already has."

"Her?"

Alina sighed and slammed her head against the bars behind her. "Elizabeth! I! Am! Not! Elizabeth!" She marched closer to Bootstrap and, once again ignoring the thorny surface of his skin, held onto his shoulders and glared into his almost-hollow eyes, "You claim he'll lose Elizabeth if he saves you but what if he's already lost? What if he and Elizabeth are on the rocks and any manner of small discretion can tip the balance towards the end of their relationship and in your favor? What if a certain someone, becoming increasingly agitated at this precise moment in time, has been looking for just the way to tip said balance as a way of destroying that fobbing, knotty-pated wagtail for wagging said tail at MY captain?"

Having her face pressed nose to nose with Bootstrap, Alina was able to see the smallest of twitches in his pupils. She had said all she possibly could to restore his hope and keep him from becoming absorbed by the ship, the rest he would have to do himself. She took a step back, releasing her clenched hands from their painful grasp and attempted to calm her heaving breaths.

"He's coming for me?"

She released a large breath through her nostrils, "He's coming for you."

"He promised."

"And he's a man of his word."

Bootstrap smiled and leaned back against the boards of the ship. As his arm began to meld once more, his face hardened and he snapped, "No!" He glared at the ship as if to challenge it, "William is coming for me. Wait and see! He promised." He crossed his arms, and when he leaned again, William Turner Sr. remained simply leaning against the wood.


On another ship, somewhat far, but still not too terribly far away, William Turner Jr. was taking the first step towards fulfilling his promise. Tying the victims of battle to empty stock barrels and throwing them overboard, he planned to lead Beckett right to Shipwreck Cove.

"You escaped the brig even quicker than I expected." Jack remarked casually from his perch, not even flinching when Will aimed his pistol. "William, do you notice anything? Rather," he hopped down to stand face to face, "do you notice something that is not there to be noticed?"

Will looked up for a moment, only just noticing he was alone with the captain, "You haven't raised an alarm."

"Odd isn't it?" He waved his arm at the corpses and barrels, "Not as odd as this. Come up with this all by your lonesome did you?"

"I said to myself, think like Jack."

"This is what you've arrived at? Lead Beckett to Shipwreck so as to gain his trust, accomplish your own ends? It's like you don't know me at all, mate."

Will lowered his pistol, "Actually, I think I have you spot on."

Jack placed a hand to his heart, "Now that. Really hurts. How does your dearly beloved feel about this plan? Ahh, you've not seen fit to trust her with it."

Will scoffed at the irony, "Shouldn't you be questioning yourself?"

"What makes you think I don't? Why do you think no one's ever managed to catch me for long?" Will opened his mouth but Jack pressed on, "Because I always question myself, that's why. If I, myself, question my every move, then I, myself, won't know what that next move will be, and if I, myself, don't know what my next move will be than it stands to reason that neither will anyone else and if anyone can't predict what my next move will be it is impossible to predict when I'll do whatever it is because I haven't yet decided that I'll do it. Savvy?"

Will sighed, not bothering to question his special brand of logic, "I'm losing her, Jack. Every step I make for my father is a step away from Elizabeth."

"Mate, if you choose to lock your heart away, you'll lose her for certain. If I might lend a machete to your intellectual thicket? Avoid the choice altogether. Change the facts. Let someone else dispatch Jones."

"Who? You? You've not yet made the decision."

"Or have I? No I've not. Yes? No. You let me bear that cross."

"And if you suddenly decide not? What of my father then?"

"I find someone else to stab the heart and take the fall."

"And my father still remains imprisoned."

"Fine! I'll bring the bleeding thing to you to carry out yer suicide mission aye? I slip aboard the Dutchman and find the heart. Either I stab the beating thing then and there and your father goes free from his debt, or I change my mind, risk life and limb to bring it back to you, and you stab it and your father still goes free. Though at least by giving me the chance to make my choice, you get a fifty-fifty shot at reclaiming your charming murderess."

"And if you do stab the heart? You're willing to bind yourself to the Dutchman? Forever?" Will sheathed his dagger, hoping this new plan was liable.

"No mate. I'm free forever." His tone became wistful and his eyes glazed over, "Free to sail the seas beyond the edges of the map, free from death itself."

"You have to do the job though, Jack. You have to ferry the souls to the next world, or end up just like Jones."

"I don't have the face for tentacles," he said matter-of-factly, "but immortal has to count for something, eh?"

"And Alina? Do you honestly think she'd wait another ten years just for you?"

"You wound me mate, you really do. I have a plan for her too, besides. Oh!" He unfastened his compass and tossed it to Will.

"What's this for?"

Jack smirked and walked forward, backing will up against the rail, "Think like me, it'll come to you." He breathed profusely on Will's face, causing him to shuffle backwards and fall into the ocean below. Jack kicked a barrel after him, "My regards to Davy Jones!"

"I hate him." Will muttered.


As the hustle and bustle of an active ship slowly died, Alina sat with her back against the bars of the brig, staring out the lonely window and counting the stars as they passed. 634. She was beginning to lose hope that James would come through with his end of the escape. 635. He was the wild card she couldn't predict. 636. Was his duty to his sword more sacred than his duty to his loved ones? He was after all, born and raised in the military. 637. She wouldn't blame him for backing out of course. He's a smart man, 638. The bars to her right suddenly opened, then again, maybe not.

"Come with me." James hissed when the crew did not move, "Quickly!" At Alina's nod, they all shuffled out to the deck. "Beckett knows of the meeting of the Brethren," he grasped her arm, "I fear there may be a traitor among them."

"I know. And guess who the smarmy bastard is? But no matter, it works in our favor. Beckett may know that and where we meet, but he does not know why."

"Alina please, do not go to Shipwreck Cove, you'll be massacred."

"You speak as though you're not coming with us, Mr. Norrington."

"I'm not a pirate Miss Carter."

Alina turned from the last man scaling the rope to the Empress and faced her friend. "James," her soft voice betraying her fright, "when pirates masquerade as honorable men, honorable men must learn to out-pirate their masters. Come with us, with me at least. They'll know you helped us, they'll murder you. I'll make sure to get you out in the end. You've no need to remain pirate once this war is had."

"Who goes there?" Bootstrap's voice called, "All hands! Prisoner escape!"

"It's too late now." James half unsheathed his sword but was stilled by Alina's hand on the blade.

"No it's not. It's all part of the plan." She had the confirmation she needed.

"What plan?" Before James could process anything more, Bootstrap materialized a pistol and shot at the ship's rail. Alina grabbed his wig with her bloodied hand and pushed him overboard before quickly smearing her hand over the splintered wood. Finally, she dropped the wig on deck and dove silently after him.

"The Dutchman is under my command." Ian Mercer proclaimed with a smile.

Jones turned to hide his smirk and stormed from his cabin, for now.


A/N: Still looking for Norrington's happy ending after Alina makes good on her promise! Anyone?

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